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The Shackles
Rising from a minor raider gang, the Shackles managed to become the second biggest slaver outfit in the Detroit Wasteland though sheer ruthlessness and determination. While they were successful for several years, they would ultimately be destroyed in a brutal three-way conflict that wiped out all the slaver operations in the ruined city. History The Shackles largely emerged from the power vacuum created by the collapse of the Hellfire Gang, one of the new generation of raiders who had no prior connection to the one-time raider empire. For much of their early years they more or less scraped by, doing well enough to stay alive but not much else. The gang’s biggest claim to fame was their small slaving operation, one that again had largely come about to fill a gap caused by the Hellfire’s demise. Their big break came in 2282 with the arrival of Andrea Furey. Claiming to be a ‘tribal warrior queen’ from Florida, she apparently sought out the gang with an eye to making it her own. Why she chose them was unclear, but it could have simply been because the major gangs in the city either were already ruled by big personalities (Wrecking Crew, Cake or Death) or restricted their membership based on gender (War Bears, Gentlemen). Or maybe she just liked their location in a nightclub in the outside of Downtown. Furey courted several members of the gang, building up a small cadre of loyal followers who were drawn to her not inconsiderable personal charisma and promises of greater power and wealth. Taking these members as her own force, she staged an effortless takeover of the gang, deposing their previous leader, Bob Dillar. Now with her own army (albeit a small one) and powerbase, she set about establishing the Shackles as something bigger. Her force muscled in on the other raider gangs of the city’s east side, offering them promises of power and wealth in return for her allegiance. Those that failed to fall sway to her persuasion were instead incorporated by force. The Revolutionary War served to help bolster her campaign; not only was everyone more concerned with what was going on elsewhere, but the gang fed off deserting Revolutionary soldiers after its collapse. By the start of 2285, the Shackles were sitting pretty. They had managed to create one of the largest and most powerful gangs in the city largely by stealth, building up their powerbase while nobody was looking. They had also managed to overtake the Gentlemen to become the city’s second-biggest slaver outfit. This was accomplished through a mixture of stealth and the rival gang’s overly restrictive membership policies which left it rigid and inflexible, unable to change in a hurry. In 2286, they were rated by Motown Pirate Radio as the city’s number five gang, just behind the War Bears. This time at the top would be short-lived, however. In early 2287, they suffered a series of well-coordinated attacks that disrupted their activities and cost them a number of agents, while also seeing a large number of captives go free. Andrea Furey suspected that one of the other Slaver Gangs were behind these actions, and so launched a series of attacks on both the War Bears and the Gentlemen in order to bring them to heel and teach them a lesson. The result instead was a bloody escalation that would consume all three gangs. Furey went into the so-called Slavers’ war thinking that she could easily defeat the other two groups; after all, she had built the Shackles up from nothing with ease. Instead, she found that her policy of promoting sycophants and loyalists had left her with a bevvy of lieutenants that lacked any actual leadership skills. As a result, the gang’s members were often outmanoeuvred by their counterparts in the other two gangs. In a strange twist, as more of her lieutenants were killed, the gang began to become more effective and responsive to threats. The biggest blow they suffered, which lead directly to their demise came in July of 2287 at the peak of the war. While the bulk of the gang were deployed in the fighting against the War Bears (The Gentlemen having been destroyed by a slave uprising in June), an unknown force attacked their headquarters at Club Caprice. The attackers killed the remaining Shackles raiders present, then freed the slaves. As they departed, they burned the building to the ground. Having lost her headquarters to what they assumed was the War Bears (And more importantly, losing all her stuff), Furey went into a rage and launched an immediate attack on the War Bears, aimed at destroying them. Instead, the attack was a disaster for all involved. The Shackles were wiped out to a man, with Furey dying at the hands of Man Beast himself. However, it also critically weakened the War Bears, leaving them only barely functional. Description On the outside, the Shackles resemble a typical slaver gang; they are a group of vile, scummy raiders who specialise in the capture and then resale of their fellow humans and show no remorse or concerns over their actions. They are motivated solely by profit, and the desire to accumulate as much caps (or other goods, such as chems, pre-war luxuries, cans of CRAM or whatever else) as possible. Initially, their most distinguishing feature is their size, rated as the city’s number five Raider Gang by Motown Pirate Radio (As of their 2286 survey). Under the surface, the Shackles’ motivations become entirely different. Since her takeover of the gang, and transforming it into the powerhouse that it is today, the Shackles basically have come to exist solely as a tribute to Andrea Furey’s massive ego. Everything is about her, and exists for her benefit. Not only does she hoard their wealth and control their operations, but she is careful to inert herself into everything the gang does in order to claim it as her own. Even the personal relationships within the gang are carefully managed; if Furey likes somebody, she will step in and “claim” them as her own. Despite this insane cult of personality, the gang’s slaving operations are entirely conventional and functional. They do not discriminate at all on who they take, as long as they feel that they can be then resold. Captured slaves can potentially join the gang on the condition that they are willing to prove themselves worthy (as described below) and, of course, kiss up to Furey. Locations The headquarters of the Shackles is in the ruins of a pre-war nightclub. Before the Great War, Club Caprice billed itself as being Detroit’s premier nightspot. The truth was however that even before the war, it had degenerated into a sleazy dive full of creeps. So going out of business due to a nuclear war and filling up with Feral Ghouls wasn’t that much of a change for it. Over the years, various people had occupied the club, claiming to be the owner for a while, but they had inevitably been chased out or left. While the Shackles have made the club their home, they have done very little to renovate it or its facilities, instead seeming to revel in the level of decay permeating it. The members of the gang live in the club’s offices, and make use of its renovated bar (which still manages to maintain the same air of desperation) and dancefloor as their main recreation and meeting area. Conversely, the slaves are kept in the club’s former lounge, which is dominated by a disgusting, muck-filled fountain. The offices/quarters of some of the members of the gang could best be described as ‘extravagant’. The gang’s leader, Andrea Furey, topped this list; she took up residence in a large apartment in the same building and had it outfitted with any number of amenities and comforts for her benefit. Other key members managed to stake out decent sized spaces for themselves. Of course, the slaves were kept in utter squalor, with overflow squeezed into the building’s basement. In the last days of the Slaver’s War, the building as attacked by a group of mercenaries while the bulk of the Furies were engaged elsewhere. The Mercenaries liberated the remaining slaves before putting the building itself to the torch, burning it to the ground. Equipment The Shackles are reasonably well-equipped as raider gangs go. Their arsenal consists of a mixture of pre-war weapons, but usually tending towards the more simple and low-tech end that can be easily maintained with their limited skill sets and infrastructure. These are often supplemented by scratch-built “pipe” guns that are of often wildly varying capabilities. Many of the gang were armed only with improvised or melee weapons, although such were encouraged for use in subduing captives. Unlike the Gentlemen with their love of elaborate pre-war suits, the Shackles had no strict uniform or dress code. However, under Furey’s lead, it’s members, regardless of gender, were encouraged to ‘show some skin’ and wear skimp or revealing outfits. Furey herself was known to wear armour with massive gaps in it (for example, having little or no chest coverage), although that was likely motivated by her personal vanity rather than any practicality. Notable Members Andrea Furey The founder and leader of the Shackles, Andrea Furey claimed to be descended from “a line of tribal warrior queens”. While this was never verified (and she was rather vague on the details), Furey’s charisma and willpower were certainly impressive enough to allow her to carve out a raider empire in short order. Entering the Detroit Wasteland, she was able to take territory of her own, converting a minor, also-ran gang into a force to be reckoned with. At the same time, she was taking business from the rigidly inflexible Gentlemen and quickly becoming the leader of the city’s second-biggest slaver outfit. Despite all her lofty claims and skills as a leader, Furey was, underneath everything, just another repulsive slaver living off the misery of others. She was cruel, vindictive, petty and spiteful, lashing out at anyone who crossed her in even the most minor of ways. Likewise, Andrea was an expert manipulator, playing her underlings against each other for her personal gain or, even sometimes just for her own amusement. Vain and egotistical, she chose her lieutenants not on the basis of any ability but how well they played to her amusement. She also enjoyed her luxuries, having claimed an entire apartment for her personal use while most of the gang lived in squalor. Andrea was not present for the destruction of Club Caprice, but (incorrectly) assumed that the War Bears were to blame. She died leading a reckless assault on their headquarters, cut down by the remaining members of the gang. Mina Somtingoranodder Andrea’s right hand woman, Mina Somtingoranodder rose to power through her devotion to her leader, rather than any actual abilities of her own. Otherwise only a middling raider, Mina rose to power largely on the coattails of Andrea by always being at her back and constantly fawning over her and backing her on everything she does. The result is that Mina is hopelessly devoted to Andrea Furey, while being rather clueless and less than capable on her own. However, because of her loyalty to her leader, she is also effectively protected against any retaliation from below. That is not to say that Mina doesn’t have a life of her own. Instead, Mina has an elaborate fantasy life, based on a number of different fictional personas that she has created and writes about in a journal she keeps on a terminal. However, while all of these characters have very different backgrounds, they all have the same basic personality, possibly due to Mina’s own lack of imagination. Added to that, they’re all based directly on pre-Great War fictional characters, and she just hopes that nobody will notice. Category:Raiders Category:Slavers Category:Groups Category:Michigan Category:Defunct